Dearly beloved in the Lord, ye that mind to come to the holy
Communion of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ, must
consider what St Paul writeth to the Corinthians; how he exhorteth
all persons diligently to try and examine themselves, before they
presume to eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For as the
benefit is great, if with a true penitent heart and living faith
we receive that holy Sacrament, (for then we spiritually eat the
flesh of Christ, and drink his blood; then we dwell in Christ,
and Christ in us; we are one with Christ, and Christ with us);
so is the danger great, if we receive the same unworthily; for
then we are guilty of the body and blood of Christ our Saviour;
we eat and drink judgement to ourselves, not discerning the Lord's
body; we kindle God's wrath against us; we provoke him to plague
us with divers diseases, and sundry kinds of death. Judge therefore
yourselves, brethren, that ye be not judged of the Lord; repent
you truly for your sins past; have a living and stedfast faith in
Christ our Saviour; amend your lives, and be in perfect charity
with all men: so shall ye be meet partakers of those holy mysteries.
And, above all things, ye must give humble and hearty thanks to
God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for the redemption
of the world, by the death and passion of our Saviour Christ, both
God and man, who did humble himself even to the death upon the
Cross for us miserable sinners, who lay in darkness and the shadow
of death, that he might make us the children of God, and exalt us
to everlasting life. And to the end that we should always remember
the exceeding great love of our Master and only Saviour Jesus
Christ thus dying for us, and the innumerable benefits which by
his precious blood-shedding he hath obtained to us, he hath
instituted and ordained holy mysteries, as pledges of his love,
and for a continual remembrance of his death, to our great and
endless comfort. To him therefore, with the Father, and the Holy
Ghost, let us give (as we are most bounden) continual thanks,
submitting ourselves wholly to his holy will and pleasure, and
studying to serve him in true holiness and righteousness all the
days of our life. _Amen_.